We had arranged to proceed together from Ambriz as far as Bembe, but owing to the great mortality in the country from two successive visitations of small-pox, which had ravaged the coast, we were unable to obtain the necessary number of carriers. The two brothers alone required nearly 200, and as only a few comparatively could be had at a time, they went singly first, and, about a week after they had both started, my wife and myself were able to get together sufficient carriers to leave also.
To travel in a country like Angola it is necessary to be provided with almost everything in the way of food and clothing, and goods for money, and as everything has to be carried on men’s heads, a great number of carriers are necessarily requisite.
The “tipoia,” or hammock, is the universal travelling apparatus in Angola ([Plate I.]), and is of two forms, the simple hammock slung to a palm pole (the stem of the leaf of a Metroxylon, Welw.), which is very strong and extremely light, or the same with a light-painted waterproof cover, and curtains, very comfortable to travel in, and always used by the Portuguese to the interior of Loanda, where the country is more open, and better paths or roads exist, but they would quickly be torn to pieces north, and on the road to Bembe, from the very dense bush, and in the wet season the very high grass; consequently the plain hammock and pole only are generally employed, the traveller shading himself from the sun by a movable cover held in position by two cords, or by using a white umbrella. When travelling long distances six or eight bearers are necessary: the two hammock-carriers generally run at a trot for about two hours at a stretch, when another couple take their places.
On any well-known road the natives have established changing or resting places, which, when not at a town, are generally at some shady tree or place where water is to be had,—or at the spots where fairs are held, or food cooked and exposed for sale by the women.
When the road was clear of grass, in the dry season, I have more than once travelled from Ambriz to Bembe—a distance of not less than 130 miles—in four days, with only eight bearers and light luggage, and this without in any way knocking up or distressing the carriers, and only running from daybreak to nightfall;—very often they joined in a “batuco” or dance, for several hours into the night, at the town I slept at, and were quite fresh and ready to start next morning.
It is only the stronger blacks that are good hammock-bearers, especially the coast races, very few of the natives of the interior, such as the Mushicongos, being sufficiently powerful to carry a hammock for any distance. The motion is extremely disagreeable at first, from the strong up and down jerking experienced, but one soon becomes quite used to it, and falls asleep whilst going at full trot, just as if it were perfectly still. The natives of Loanda and Benguella, though not generally such strong carriers as the Ambriz blacks, take the hammock at a fast walk instead of the sharp trot of the latter, and consequently hammock travelling there is very lazy and luxurious.
The pole is carried on the shoulder, and rests on a small cushion generally made of fine grass-cloth stuffed with wild cotton, the silky fibre in the seed-pod of the “Mafumeira,” or cotton-wood tree (Eriodendron anfractuosum), or “isca,” a brown, woolly-like down covering the stems of palm-trees. Each bearer carries a forked stick on which to rest the pole when changing shoulders, and also to ease the load by sticking the end of it under the pole behind their backs, and stretching out their arm on it. No one who has not tried can form an idea what hard, wearying work it is to carry a person in a hammock, and it is wonderful how these blacks will run with one all day, in the hot sun, nearly naked, with bare shaved heads, and not feel distressed.
On arriving at any stream or pool they dash at once into the water, and wash off the perspiration that streams from their bodies, and I never heard of any ill consequence occurring from this practice. The hammock-bearers do not as a rule carry loads; by native custom they are only obliged to carry the white man’s bed, his provision-box, and one portmanteau. To take my wife, myself, a tent—as it was the rainy season—provisions, bedding, and a few changes of clothes, only what was absolutely necessary for a month’s journey, we had to engage exactly thirty carriers: this included our cook and his boy with the necessary pots and pans; our “Jack Wash,” as the laundry-boys are called, with his soap and irons; and one man with the drying-papers and boxes for collecting plants and insects. We also took a Madeira cane chair, very useful to be carried in across the streams or marshes we should meet with.
All being ready we started off, passing Quincollo and arriving at Quingombe, where we encamped for the night on top of a hill, to be out of the way, as I thought, of a peculiarly voracious mosquito very abundant there, and of which I had had experience in my former journeys to and from Bembe.
I shall never forget the first night I passed there in going up to the mines with the twelve miners. There was at that time a large empty barracoon built of sticks and grass for the accommodation of travellers. Soon after sunset a hum like that of distant bees was heard, and a white mist seemed to rise out of the marshy land below, which was nothing less than a cloud of mosquitoes. The men were unprovided with mosquito nets, and the consequence was that sleep was perfectly out of the question, so they sat round the table smoking and drinking coffee, and killing mosquitoes on their hands and faces all night long. I had been given an excellent mosquito bar or curtain, but the ground was so full of sand-fleas, that although I was not troubled with mosquitoes, the former kept me awake and feverish. In the morning we laughed at our haggard appearance, and swollen faces and hands; luckily we were not so troubled any more on our journey up.